First Growth Capital LLC Acquires New Position in Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

First Growth Capital LLC bought a new position in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $721,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Caterpillar by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,385,185 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,572,681,000 after acquiring an additional 442,164 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Caterpillar by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,388,550 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $20,273,039,000 after acquiring an additional 385,204 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Caterpillar by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,610,182 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,072,572,000 after acquiring an additional 94,524 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Caterpillar by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,493,266 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,438,408,000 after purchasing an additional 54,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,738,802 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,860,457,000 after purchasing an additional 928,974 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CAT shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on Caterpillar from $700.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $900.00 price target on shares of Caterpillar in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Daiwa Securities Group raised their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $790.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $980.00 price objective on shares of Caterpillar and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $935.09.

Key Caterpillar News

Here are the key news stories impacting Caterpillar this week:

• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target on Caterpillar to $1,165 from $1,125 and reiterated an overweight rating, reinforcing a bullish analyst outlook for the stock.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts currently view Caterpillar as a “Moderate Buy,” suggesting Wall Street remains constructive on the company’s earnings and growth prospects.
• Positive Sentiment: Several writeups highlight Caterpillar as a blue-chip name benefiting from strong market momentum, with the stock featured among top industrial and Dow stocks to watch.
• Positive Sentiment: Investor interest is also being supported by Caterpillar’s recent dividend hike, which signals confidence in cash flow and capital returns.
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary around Caterpillar’s growing power generation business and its exposure to AI data-center infrastructure is improving the long-term growth story. Article: Caterpillar (CAT) Is Recasting Its Growth Story With A $63 Billion AI Backlog
• Neutral Sentiment: Some articles are simply repeating recent market strength and record-high Dow leadership, which supports sentiment but does not add new company-specific information.
• Negative Sentiment: One article references a legal/political dispute over the SEC’s Consolidated Audit Trail, but this appears to concern the CAT data system rather than Caterpillar Inc., so it is not a meaningful fundamental driver for the stock.

Caterpillar Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of CAT opened at $987.79 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $454.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.17, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.59. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52 week low of $357.73 and a 52 week high of $994.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $870.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $738.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.65 by $0.89. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 48.21% and a net margin of 13.33%.The company had revenue of $17.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.53 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.25 earnings per share. Caterpillar’s quarterly revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Caterpillar Inc. will post 24.62 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Monday, July 20th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 20th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Caterpillar’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.51. Caterpillar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.06%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Anthony D. Fassino sold 16,283 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $916.80, for a total transaction of $14,928,254.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 46,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,210,388.80. This represents a 26.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew R. J. Bonfield sold 15,674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $918.71, for a total transaction of $14,399,860.54. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 52,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,631,913.85. This represents a 22.85% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 95,773 shares of company stock valued at $87,642,635 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Caterpillar Profile

Caterpillar Inc is a global manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and locomotives. The company’s product portfolio includes earthmoving machines such as excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders and off?highway trucks, as well as a range of power generation products including generator sets and power systems for industrial and commercial use. Caterpillar serves customers across heavy construction, mining, energy, transportation and related industries with both equipment and integrated technology solutions.

In addition to manufacturing, Caterpillar provides a broad range of aftermarket parts and support services, including maintenance, repair, remanufacturing and fleet management tools.